Madhu Singh

Educational practice in India and its foundations in Indian heritage: a synthesis of the East and West?

The paper examines education practice in India in terms of the division between indigenous cultures on the one hand, and the formal culture of learning and knowledge systems inherited from colonial times on the other. These ‘two Indias’ are still reflected in the modern educational system in India, seen in the vast differences between the formal school system, whose benefits reach only a minority of the population, and the millions of crafts-persons working in Indias informal sector, many without education or training. The paper looks at reasons for these divisions within the culture and history of Indias formal, non-formal and informal systems of education and training. The paper also throws light on the aspirations to unite these divided cultures of learning by looking at some of the writings of J.P. Naik, the famous educationist and secretary of the first Report of the Education Commission (1964–66) after Indias independence. The analysis needs to be seen against the background of international educational thought which is improving the value, relevance and quality of non-formal and informal learning, as key pillars for building lifelong learning systems.

School Enterprises Revisited: Combining Vocational Learning with Production

The present discussion on school enterprises is a revisit to a previous study which the author conducted in 1998 within a UNESCO–UNEVOC project (Singh, 1998). Two issues inspired the study at that time. One was linking the process of technical and vocational education to real work and market situations and the other was the selffinancing of secondary schools and technical and vocational education institutions. The above issues are of even greater importance today, and in fact have relevance for the whole post-primary education and training sector. Post-primary institutions in developing countries are increasingly expected to generate alternative resources of financing as well as to interlink with skills development and the labour market. School enterprises are of paramount significance for the sustainability of learning and sustainable development. Central to the notion of education for sustainable development (ESD) is the view that a transition to a socially, economically and ecologically sustainable society is possible only by promoting learning from the perspective of lifelong and life-wide learning, engaging all spaces of learning – formal, non-formal and informal, from early childhood to adult life, and in which everyone is a stakeholder, be it the government, civil society or the private sector, the individual, the employer or the enterprise (UNESCO Implementation Scheme, 2004). Equally important is the view that education for sustainable development is about respect both for academic learning as well as for practical and experiential learning. Experiential learning first immerses learners in an experience and then encourages reflection about the experience to develop new skills, new attitudes, or new ways of thinking. Recognizing the importance of experiential learning should not be seen as promoting a learning system for the poor or for that matter for the developing countries only nor is it an attempt to denigrate academic knowledge in order to substitute it with ‘practical know-how’. It is essentially to admit that there are numerous ways to learn and the many avenues which led to the mastering of skills knowledge

National Qualifications Frameworks (NQF) and Support for Alternative Transition Routes for Young People

The article deals with alternative transitions to further learning and into the world of work for young people from less qualified and marginalized backgrounds. It considers the importance of systemic, structural and institutional solutions – rather than the psychological solutions through counselling and guidance services – to youth transitions in conjunction with pathways established and maintained through NQFs. NQFs have become a new global phenomena. Many countries use them as tools for reform as well as for communication to share a common vision around mobility, transitions and recognition of all forms of learning. The paper starts with an introduction to the concept of ‘alternative transitions’. Evidence taken from 33 case studies compiled by the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL) for the Global Inventory of National and Regional Qualifications Frameworks (UIL, Global inventory of national qualifications frameworks: country cases studies compiled by the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning. University Interscholastic League, Hamburg, 2014; UIL, ETF, and CEDEFOP, Global inventory of regional and national qualifications frameworks. Volume I: Thematic chapters. University Interscholastic League, Hamburg, 2015a; UIL, ETF, and CEDEFOP, Global inventory of regional and national qualifications frameworks. Volume II: National and regional cases. University Interscholastic League, Hamburg, 2015b) is used to highlight whether and how NQFs are actually supporting alternative routes for youth in crisis. The paper concludes by arguing that a better understanding of NQFs could inform transition policies concerning youth. However, NQFs cannot themselves promote alternative transition routes to qualifications; other factors anchored in structural and institutional solutions need to be taken into account.

Coordination and Stakeholder Interests and Motives

Various partnerships between stakeholders drive the coordination and implementation of RVA. Cooperation with industrial organisations and the private sector can be advantageous; however, there are issues that the capacities promoted will often be narrowly focused around market sector skills.

Sharing Learning: Cross-Country Observations

This concluding chapter reflects on emerging cross-country/regional patterns, convergences and divergences, and comments on challenges and critical factors conducive to the implementation of RVA. The aim is to arrive at common benchmarks which policy makers and practitioners could use to ensure that policies and practice articulate more purposefully with the holistic principles of lifelong learning and sustainable development.

Features of Best Practice from Country Examples

This chapter highlights the development of best practice in RVA and illustrates where this can occur, describing experiences ranging from countries with established practices of recognition to those which are still in the process of establishing systems of recognition.

RVA’s Role in Education, Working Life and Society

This chapter examines the variations in the purposes of RVA across and within countries. While countries tend to concentrate on one or the other purposes depending upon the contexts and circumstances, country practice actually show the need to link the different contexts, keeping in mind the entire range of social, economic, cultural and personal purposes.

Key Concepts, Definitions and Assumptions

This chapter builds on the concept of lifelong learning describing lifelong learning as a standard that promotes learning on a holistic basis. But it also points to the several challenges in the implementation of lifelong learning at both a systemic and an individual level.

Policy and Legislative Environment

The chapter on policy and legislative environment highlights the differences between countries that have an overarching legal framework specifically for RVA, and others that have a range of relevant legal acts and regulations set in the formal education and training systems. But not all RVA activity is necessarily linked to governmental policy and legislative activity as in the US.